Cremation Ground (standard:other, 1381 words)
Author: Shamoil Ahmad	Added: Jun 07 2010	Views/Reads: 3446/1893	Story vote: 0.00 (0 votes)
Based on growing terrorism.

Cremation Ground						Shamoil Ahmad 

Dead body was carried away... 

Man with the face of a camel’s knee was still there.  The frame of bones
was protruding out of his face and the cheek had sunk deeply like a 
grave . Looked as though someone had plastered bones on his face and 
the skin was wrapped around. Eyes were buried into the sockets and in 
the temple zone there was a strange mark of craw’s paw drawn towards  
the lower part of the eyes. 

With stultified eyes he was looking into the void... 

I softly placed my hand on his shoulder and asked him to come along.
With his moribund eyes he looked at me and took some heavy breathes in 
as though he wanted to supply some fresh air to his lungs...but it was 
the smell of gunpowder that found entry into his nostril and it seemed  
that small particles of gunpowder had stuck into his throat. 

He began to cough...and went out coughing violently...so violently that
the veins of his neck began to swell...and the eyes began to protrude 
out of their sockets. His face had gone ruddy right up to his ears. I 
hurriedly began to rub his back.  Due to constant coughing sputum has 
filled his mouth. Somehow when the coughing ceased, he wiped his mouth 
off with the sleeve of his shirt and murmured. 

‘’Now breathing also has become a....’’ 

I asked him if the one who had died was his relation. Upon hearing this
his cadaverous eyes for a flash of second exuded a spark of fire where 
upon I realized the folly I had committed by asking the question. Where 
this kind of thing happens every day as a matter of course, what is the 
meaning of relationship...? 

In fact the sky of this  locality has become blood –stained for a long
time now. It rains fire here. Snakes keep flying in the air. The 
soldiers are on the prowl in their armored vehicles to crush them, but 
the earth is hard and the sky far away and it was uncertain to predict 
who when and where will come within the firing range. 

Right now someone had strayed into the firing range and everything
happened in a jiffy. Just a while ago the man had come to the vegetable 
shop to buy vegetables when a vehicle had stopped there ...two armed 
men had dismounted ...there was an explosion...and the man buying 
vegetables was... 

And in no time the two had vanished. Soon thereafter, the patrolling
party from the king’s court had appeared on the scene in the armored 
vehicle and had removed the dead body. The blood that had spilled there 
was with the sunrays falling on it , still shining like a fresh piece 
of lever. 

The crowd had begun to disperse....shutters had begun to close down and
soon the area had become bereft of all activities. 

Burying our faces down we were silently walking in aimless direction.
The road was totally deserted and the terror-gripped buildings on both 
sides of the road were standing mute. The silence was suddenly broken 
by the wailing sound of a dog and then it died down with the same 
suddenness with which it had pierced the eerie silence. In shear dread 
he looked towards me and uttered gingerly. ‘’This is the cremation 
ground...we are all residents of the cremation ground..” 

“Yes...this is a cremation ground...and here we all are waiting for our
turn.’’ I had spoken taking a heavy breath. 

An armored vehicle raced past us. 

‘The poor Sentries of the King... ‘ He began to laugh. 

‘’What will the king do...?’ 

‘’What can he also do ?” 

‘’The King knows well, he can do nothing. ‘’ 


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